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BBI taskforce to present report to President Kenyatta on Tuesday

BBI taskforce Chairperson Yusuf Haji (pictured) said in a press conference convened on Friday over 7,000 Kenyans had filed submissions which were taken into consideration during the compilation of the report/CFM – Moses Muoki

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 22 – The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) taskforce is set to present its report to President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday next week, a month after the 14-member team announced it was ready for presentation.

BBI taskforce Chairperson Yusuf Haji said in a press conference convened on Friday over 7,000 Kenyans had filed submissions which were taken into consideration during the compilation of the report.

The team was gazetted in May 2018 following a unity deal between Kenyatta and his then political archrival in the 2017 presidential election Raila Odinga, in what is now referred to as the handshake.

“We are immensely gratified by how the Kenyan people responded to our call for participation. The face of Kenya was captured with at least 7,000 citizens from all ethnic groups, genders, cultural and religious practices and different social and economic sectors coming forward eager to tell of their experiences and solutions to our pressing national challenges,” he said.

Journalists were gagged from fielding questions on the emerging concerns about the report during the Friday’s press conference, held at a city hotel.

Haji said public forums were held in all the 47 Counties as the taskforce sought solutions to Kenya’s challenges – more so on the pressing issue of electoral violence and runway graft, that has left an ailing economy.

Even before the contents of the report are made public, political temperatures have risen, with various factions formed, as leaders position themselves towards playing a key role in either the opposing or supporting a constitutional referendum that may arise from recommendations of the BBI taskforce.

Others and specifically a section of elected leaders drawn from the vote-rich Mount Kenya region have made public their set of conditions, more so on the distribution of resources, which they want to reflect the numbers of people living in an area.

Once the President has received the report, Kenyans will have a chance to know its contents.

Kenyatta and Odinga have hailed BBI as the solution to challenges impeding the country.

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Friday’s announcement came a week after President Kenyatta summoned Mt Kenya leaders, in a move meant to lobby support for the report and calm the political rhetoric around it.

During his press conference on Friday, Haji cautioned the public against speculations on the contents of the report dismissing as misleading reports doing rounds on the social media over the composition of the BBI report.

“We wish to request members of the public to beware of the flood of false reports that are circulating on social media claiming to be from BBI.

These misrepresentations are designed to sow confusion and division among Kenyans, at a time when there is a strong national consensus on the need for cohesion, honesty, and ambition to change our country for better,” the BBI taskforce chairperson said.

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